STMicroelectronics Enables Dish TV Digital Set-Top Boxes in India

Dish TV selects ST for its next-generation set-top boxes supporting both standard- and high-definition digital services

NOIDA, India — STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a leading global supplier of set-top box (STB) ICs, and Dish TV, India’s largest Direct-To-Home (DTH) company have announced that Dish TV’s latest digital set-top boxes are powered by ST’s highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) STB decoder ICs.

Offering Standard-Definition (SD) and High-Definition (HD) STBs enables Dish TV to deliver innovative services to a wide variety of customers. Selecting designs based on ST’s decoders has enabled a cost-effective solution in each case, delivering high reliability with the performance needed to support enhanced value-added features. Dish TV has recently launched its HD service, Dish Tru HD, delivered via ST-equipped set-top boxes, providing access to exceptionally rich video and audio for a superior customer experience.

“In line with our brand positioning ‘Ghar Aayi Zindagi’ (Life Comes Home), we are committed to continuously optimize the customers experience by offering the best technology products and backing them up with high quality service and support,” said Jawahar Goel, Managing Director, Dish TV. “Our new digital set-top boxes benefit from STMicroelectronics’ highly featured and flexible System-on-Chip ICs to provide an ideal platform for us to deliver innovative value-added services to our customers. Our pioneering model of aligning with strategic partners who share our vision and bring in world-class experience and expertise to execute our plans has helped us in creating both enhanced customer satisfaction and sustain our leadership edge in India.”

“Dish TV has an outstanding footprint in India’s DTH TV market and has been a frontrunner in bringing innovative and cutting-edge technology to its customers,” said Francois Guibert, ST’s Executive Vice-President and President for Greater China and South Asia. “This represents an important design win for ST, demonstrating our ability to deliver customized solutions and emphasizing our commitment to support strategic and fast-growing markets through resources such as our Greater Noida research and development center, which is now our largest outside Europe.”

The new digital STBs featuring ST’s highly integrated SDTV and HDTV SoCs are now rolling out to Dish TV subscribers throughout India, supporting Dish TV’s goal to add significantly to its base of 7.5 million subscribers, further consolidating its leadership and expanding its footprint wider and deeper across the country.

About the STi5189 and STi7111 set-top-box decoder ICs

The STi5189 decoder in Dish TV’s SD equipment is suitable for interactive, DVR-capable and hybrid STBs. It supports DVB-S satellite broadcasting and industry-standard middleware and browsers, integrates an audio subsystem supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 and MP3 decoding, and supports all major conditional-access security standards. There is also an interface to off-chip Flash memory, which allows a PVR-type time-shift feature without requiring a hard-disk drive.

The STi7111 at the heart of Dish TV’s new HD STBs supports H.264, VC1, MPEG2 and numerous other video standards, and is designed to minimize energy consumption while maintaining system performance. High-definition video is output through the embedded HDMI 1.3 interface at up to 1080p resolution, while the embedded Ethernet port enables integration within home networks. A PCI interface is also provided. Both ICs are delivered in a kit featuring the STi6110A tuner IC, and benefit from ST’s rich development ecosystem including common tools and the fully documented and supported programming interface STAPI. STAPI enables easy porting of software, thereby promoting code re-use and compliance with industry standards.